Olympic Team Event SP: Results;
Protocols
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Liza and Martin finished 17th out of 18 in the SP, with a score of 54.64.
Although I did watch the Pairs SP LIVE, I didn't post on here during it. After the drama of the Ladies FS, I just wasn't in the mood.
The opening element, the Triple Twist, was good. And the Judges agreed, with most of them giving +1 or +2. But, Judge 4 was particularly impressed, giving them +3.
Unfortunately, things didn't go so well with the next two elements, as there were falls on each of them. Martin fell on the Triple Toe, and then Liza fell when trying to land the Throw Triple Lutz.
Martin's fall was normal enough, but Liza's fall was strange. It looked like when the blade hit the ice, it slipped, and she ended up face down flat on the ice. And when doing the analysis afterwards, Chris Howath seemed to be suggesting that it happened because she had got too much height.
On the whole, the rest of the programme looked good. They did get out of sync on their final element, the Change Foot Combination Spins, but it was only briefly. And the Judges didn't punish them for it. Like the Triple Twist that they started with, most of the Judges gave them +1 or +2, but Judge 4 gave them +3.
They were understandably disappointed, but they were being philosophical about it.
When the director came back from the highlights to show them waiting for their scores, Martin got out his phone and showed us a photo. I'm not sure, but it might have been of them doing their Free Skate. You know, showing us what we would be missing out on.
A thing that has struck me during these Olympics that I had never really noticed before. Just how much Martin and Petr look like each other. When they were waiting for their scores, Liza was sitting in between them. And were it not for the fact that Martin hadn't put on his team jacket (he had it sitting on his lap), you would have had trouble telling which was which with their masks on.
Liza and Martin are at the back of a tight group of three partnerships. They are 1.19 points behind 16th position, Rebecca GHILARDI / Filippo AMBROSINI (ITA), and 1.35 points behind 15th position, Hailey KOPS / Evgeni KRASNOPOLSKI (ISR). Ahead of this group, there is a 6.38 point gap to 14th position, Minerva Fabienne HASE / Nolan SEEGERT (DEU); and behind the group is a 2.68 point gap to 18th position, Miriam ZIEGLER / Severin KIEFER (AUT).
Under normal circumstances, I would be saying that if Liza and Martin put in a good FS, they would have a chance of climbing up the two positions to the top of the group. But, that they would need to be careful of Miriam and Severin. However, at the Olympics, only the Top 16 from the Short Programme go through to the Free Skate. So, Liza & Martin and Mirian & Severin are actually going home.
It is ridiculous. I could understand having a cut off if we had a field of 32, and were sending 8 partnerships home to get 24 through to the Free Skate. But, in a field of 18?! And sending all but 2 partnerships through?! It's not right. Admittedly, we should have had 19 partnerships to start with, except that Ioulia CHTCHETININA / Mark MAGYAR (HUN) had to withdraw due to a positive COVID-19 test. But, even so. Cutting 3 partnerships would have been just as ridiculous.
The way that the ISU and IOC are treating the Pairs category is disgraceful. And something needs to be done so that the Pairs skaters get the respect they deserve.
Unfortunately, it seems like Liza and Martin were destined not to perform their Free Skate at the Olympics.
Nevertheless, they should be immensely proud. True, neither Short Programme went as well as they would have liked. But, for them to even qualify for the Olympics was a massive achievement, given that they were not able to train together for most of the past 2 years, as Liza was in Russia and Martin was in the Czech Republic.
WELL DONE!!!
CaroLiza_fan